Nubian Death, Marriage and Birth Traditions

By Hasan El-Melik, 25 January 1996

All Netters (Ser’n ag mendo)

There was nothing peculiar about the Nubian traditions connected with
death except that at the funerals of women, the angareb on which the body was carried to
burial was shaded with arches of palm branches over which was laid a
red silk cloth, the garmasis, normally
worn by women at weddings. The body was buried in accordance with the
Sunna tradition in which the head points south, while the face is
turned towards Mecca.

As in most parts of the Sudan, mourning continued for three days. Men
usually sit in a big shed of wooden logs and wheat-stalk mast built
specially for the occasion, which they called hasira, while women sat either on the terrace
in front of the house or inside the rooms. On the third day a
charitable offering, in the form of food or new cloth, was distributed
to the poor. This ended the period of mouning. As in all other parts
of the Sudan, the relatives and friends of the bereaved contributed to
the occasion, either by small cash payments or presents of sugar and
coffee. In addition, every family head in the village contributed
towards the feeding of guests by bringing his food tray at meal times.

When a boy reached eleven years of age, his relatives selected a girl
for him as a suitable future wife. She was normally a cousin or near
relative and she would be unofficially reserved for him. The couple
grew up with the knowledge that they would be bound in marriage in the
future when they had grown up and were ready (normally at the age of
twenty-one for the boy and at eighteen for the girl). The father,
mother, or whoever was the head of the family, approached the girl's
relatives and officially engaged her for marriage to his son. The
betrothal was done quietly, without a celebration or any advance
payment or present. The occasion was restricted to the engagement and
the fixing of the wedding date. After the engagement, the girl would
confine herself strictly to her house and was not allowed to show
herself in the street.